This is usually a very ordinary thing. While traversing the Gobi Desert, before entering the oasis, we generally don’t take off our clothes on the upper body; we just tuck our lower bodies into sleeping bags for warmth. This way, we can quickly get up in case of an emergency. The sight of An Ning lying in the sleeping bag like this has been so familiar throughout this journey; however, thinking about it, and recalling that she is already dead, feels very desolate.

When I fell asleep, the body was obviously completely wrapped in the sleeping bag. Who turned her over? Could it be Panzi? What would he do that for?

I stood up and walked over to take a look at the body, and I noticed something seemed off. The body definitely looked like it had been moved; for some reason, its hands were unnaturally curled, and the whole appearance of the body was a bit strange.

I instinctively looked around. The sky was dim, and the marshland was different from the canyon; the surrounding trees were sparse, and there was nothing to illuminate the area. The flame from the fuel can was small, and everything around was pitch black; I couldn’t see anything.

I turned around and woke Panzi. He wasn’t sleeping deeply, and he woke up immediately when I tapped him. I asked him if it was him who did this.

Panzi looked confused, leaned over to take a look, and then shook his head, instead giving me a suspicious look. His expression didn’t seem like he was pretending, which made me even more puzzled.

I suddenly thought of Fatty and wondered if he had set his sights on An Ning’s belongings. Could that bastard not even spare his own people’s possessions? But I remembered that although Fatty was greedy, he probably wouldn’t do something like this.

Panzi washed his face with some marsh water and walked over to An Ning’s body, turning on his miner’s lamp to see what was going on.

An Ning’s face still held the expression from the moment of her death, which now looked somewhat horrifying. The body had been wet by the rain, and Panzi crouched down to tidy up her hair a bit. We then noticed the wounds where An Ning had been bitten were already black and purple, starting to rot, and her skin had also developed mottled dark purple patches. The high temperature here had already begun to decompose this beautiful corpse.

As we examined it, we found several mud stains on the body’s clothing. Panzi touched one and seemed to determine it hadn’t been there for long. Following the trail of mud, we suddenly discovered several small, mud-like footprints near the edge of the body.

Panzi glanced at me and followed the muddy prints, discovering that the footprints extended from the marsh. Because of the rain, they were already quite faint, but the ones near the body were still very clear.

There was something in the marsh! Our nerves tightened, and our throats constricted. We exchanged glances, and I turned to wake Fatty and the others. Panzi stood up, picked up his gun, and followed the footprints to the edge of the marsh, crouching down to shine his light into the water.

I couldn’t wake Fatty, but when I nudged the muffled oil bottle, he opened his eyes, not even sure if he had been sleeping. I explained the situation, and he frowned.

The two of us walked over to Panzi. The water was murky and indistinct, and nothing was clear. Panzi showed the few muddy footprints to Fatty and the oil bottle, saying, “Damn it, it seems something crawled up while we were sleeping. Looks like we can’t afford to sleep from now on.”

After taking a look at the footprints, the expression on the Muffled Oil Bottle’s face changed. He took the miner’s lamp and quickly scanned the area around the corpse, then blocked us from getting any closer to it.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There’s only a single line of footprints. That thing hasn’t left yet,” he said softly.